January 27, 2021
Last year, as in previous years, the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Oświęcim hosted the former prisoners who participated in the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the former camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. This year it is impossible due to the pandemic, so we have asked the survivors of Auschwitz to pass on their message to people in the world.
We would also like to invite you to share your reflections via the Internet / Facebook, which we will convey to former prisoners who spend a lot of time locked down in their homes because of the pandemic. WELCOME.
Message
„Always focus on life and the other person.”
Message
“I wrote all of this to make the present generation aware that war is the greatest evil and if it does not kill, it will take away the value of life. For my generation, the war took away childhood, youth, and the best of mature years.
My wish and request to you is that you do everything in your power to avoid war, so that you do not experience its misfortunes. Build harmony and friendship and enjoy life, because it is the highest value and very fragile and easily destroyed.”
Grzegorz Tomaszewski / Grisza Żukow
Message of Prisoner 149894
“Let the world and life in it be a refuge for all races of people and their creeds. The domination of man over man causes a lot of humiliation, discrimination, annihilation, enslavement and lack of humanity.
I experienced suffering, and enslavement. A joyful childhood was taken away from me. Let the evil generation have its place in hell. Let the new generation lie in the renewal of mutual understanding and respect. Instead of barbed camp wire, let a thorny rose grow”.
Message
“My legacy as a child survivor of Auschwitz and a researcher of war survivors of World War 2 has revealed the most important gifts of wisdom, of reconciliation, and empathy, instead of hate.”
Message
“The Global Pandemic of the Covid19 virus casts a shadow over our annual Auschwitz Liberation Commemoration on January 27th 2021, the International Day of Commemoration and Honouring the Victims of Nazi Ideology.
It is not possible for us to meet directly so I am submitting my speech in this form. Having turned 95 on 1 January this year, I belong to the small group of survivors who are able to bear witness to what took place in this concentration camp. It was in Auschwitz, in this German Nazi camp, a place symbolizing cruelty in the treatment of people unprecedented in human history, a place where the technique of mass and industrial murder was introduced, that the Nazis made their ideology a reality. I feel a great regret that groups of people who identify themselves with NAZISM, this degenerate nationalism on behalf of which they divided people into ‘superhumans and subhuman’ are appearing more and more openly in Europe, and also in our country. And in the name of this ideology, they murdered millions of innocent people, old people and children, men and women. To subscribe to Nazism today undoubtedly equals defining yourself as a person committing genocide, as this is the ultimate result of such a view. And this is happening with impunity in our country, in the country that suffered so much during the German Nazi occupation.
I would like to thank and express my gratitude to the management of the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Oświęcim for their tireless work in preserving the memory of the victims of Nazi ideology and in combatting prejudices and hostility towards people because of their origin or religion.”
Message
“I am addressing all nations of the world, all generations of these nations. No more war, no more fascism which brings death, genocide, crimes, slaughter and the loss of human dignity. The ideologies of that world are insidious, it was enough to believe in them and they happened, that’s how it was. Be vigilant and wise, don’t let them take over you.
Stefania Wernik born in Auschwitz-Birkenau, in the hell of the Nazi extermination.”
Message
“What I would like to convey to humanity is a warning against selfishness and duplicity. I want people to see the person living next door as someone close to them. Respect and willingness to share goodness with another person must be instilled in small children, so that in the future there will not be a generation of lords of life and death.”
Message
“No more war and bad politics where there is hatred towards other people with different views.”